Mark Craney (August 26, 1952 – November 26, 2005) was an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

drummer.

Biography

Craney grew up in

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...

. His father had played the drums and was a big influence on his musical career. Craney initially played with local bands, beginning with the "Vandals" and later, while living in Vermillion, South Dakota, he played with "Zero Ted". He played on

Tommy Bolin Thomas Richard Bolin (August 1, 1951 – December 4, 1976) was an American guitarist and songwriter who played with Zephyr (from 1969 to 1971), The James Gang (from 1973 to 1974), and Deep Purple (from 1975 to 1976), in addition to maintaining ...

's last tour in 1976,

Gino Vannelli Gino Vannelli (born June 16, 1952) is a Canadian rock singer and songwriter who had several hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s. His best-known singles include "People Gotta Move" (1974), "I Just Wanna Stop" (1978), "Living Inside Myself" (1981) an ...

's album '' Brother to Brother'', released in 1978 and the following tour, and with

Jean-Luc Ponty Jean-Luc Ponty (born 29 September 1942) is a French jazz violinist and composer. Early life Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians in Avranches, France. His father taught violin, his mother taught piano. At sixteen, he was admitt ...

on the famous ''

Imaginary Voyage ''Imaginary Voyage'' is a studio album by French jazz fusion artist Jean-Luc Ponty. It features guitarist Daryl Stuermer and bassist Tom Fowler (both of whom had played on Ponty’s previous album), along with keyboardist Allan Zavod and drummer ...

'' in 1976 as well as the 1980 album '' Civilized Evil''. He also played with the band Jethro Tull from June 1980 to May 1981, on their album '' A'' (1980) and its following tour. Craney also appeared on several tracks from

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

In the mid-1990s he was the drummer for Eric Burdon's I band. Though his resume was impressive, Craney's greatest commercial success was drumming for the Gino Vanelli single "I Just Wanna Stop" which soared to #4 in the US and #1 in Canada. Craney died of complications from diabetes and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

in Sherman Oaks, California, at the age of 53.

References

External links

* * * 1952 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Deaths from diabetes Deaths from pneumonia in California Jethro Tull (band) members 20th-century American male musicians {{US-drummer-stub Jazz musicians from South Dakota